From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

The old priest from the Tempest Church bore a heavy responsibility, as the rituals for the Sea God Cult required at least several months to prepare, and he had no inkling of them whatsoever.

However, the old priest was not afraid of any punishment; he was already a marginal figure within the church, and at his age, still stuck at the Beginning Level, there was no possibility of advancement.

Furthermore, the strength of the enemy was beyond his capabilities, and as a seasoned priest, he would not face severe punishment.

Moreover, there was an unspoken truth within the Tempest Church: incidents of evil cults causing heavy casualties among mere civilians were not considered significant affairs within the church.

In the end, the existence of civilians was nothing more than fodder needed by the major churches, not even worthy of being called the lambs of God.

Their lives were often of little consequence.

In the fight against the evil cultists, the Verne family lost an Extraordinary Exponent on the spot, suffering the heaviest losses. The young Knight Verne was extremely grieved, but he was also very grateful to the Fischer family for saving him.

A matter of great concern for the Fischer family was that Mayor Andes’s family also suffered severe misfortune; his wife and children were all in the North City District at the time and failed to escape, completely disintegrating after being devoured by the Spawn of the Abyss.

Upon learning this, the mayor was nearly on the verge of collapse, cooped up in his utterly ruined home, refusing to venture out and communicate with the outside world, completely neglecting various reconstruction efforts in Nasir Town.

What’s worse was that many town officials also perished in the disaster, so Nasir found itself in a brief state of a power vacuum.

The Fischer family stepped forward at this time, controlling order and stabilizing the situation in the name of assisting the Tempest Church, leading the peace officers and patrol teams. They quickly gained significant reputation and authority.

A few days later, Byrne took the initiative to find the old priest, and the two conversed in the church’s reception room.

He offered to take charge of the reconstruction of Nasir’s North City District but wanted to buy some of the uninhabited properties and land at a cheap price since the disaster.

“By the way, I know the Isaac family’s estate should technically be confiscated by the church after this event for a detailed inspection and then auctioned off, right?”

The estate’s land area was very large, several times the size of the current residence of the Fischer family, and it occupied nearly the best location in Nasir Town.

But it likely won’t be sold for several years.

“That is the case,” the old priest nodded while sipping his tea.

Byrne revealed a gentle smile and said,

“Obviously, few people would buy the lair of an evil cultist, notorious for ill fortune, especially since all its neighbors are dead. So, I was thinking of purchasing it for one-fifth of its market value.”

The old priest fell silent for a while, then slowly said, “Is that so? But isn’t one-fifth a little too low?”

Byrne shook his head, his expression serious, and continued,

“To express gratitude for the significant role the Tempest Church played in this incident, the Fischer family is willing to donate a portion of money for the repair of the church and another portion for disaster relief.”

“Hmm, then it’s a deal.” This time the old priest had no further questions.

“By the way,”

he suddenly remembered something, his weary voice filled with exhaustion,

“In two days, the Assistant Priest to the Tempest Bishop should arrive in Nasir. You should come to the church then; that personage will have some questions for you.”

“Hmm, got it,” Byrne nodded his head.

He was aware that the Assistant Priest to the Tempest Bishop essentially held the position of the bishop’s deputy and was a high-ranking church dignitary far beyond the old priest.

After leaving the church, Byrne, with a solemn expression, went to the Daybreak Orphanage.

There were some new children in the orphanage, but of particular interest to the Fischer family was a ten-year-old boy named Erik Ramon.

He was Hugh’s son, Old Ramon’s grandson, a boy with lifeless, vacant eyes and brown short hair, appearing dim-witted, always biting his fingers.

Hugh had died, the inarticulate and robust-blacksmith, who had been drinking at a merchant’s house in the North City District that night, having no chance to escape when the event occurred. No one knew what he was thinking in his last moments.

Once the Fischer family learned of Erik’s circumstances, they immediately brought him to the orphanage.

The blacksmiths, who were also known to be utterly trustworthy, agreed to entrust Hugh’s son to the care of the Fischer family, while they would temporarily take over the blacksmith shop.

With Irene acting as the notary, once Erik grew up, the blacksmiths would hand over the entire shop back to him.

However, they soon realized that Erik, who was a little slow to begin with, became somewhat dull-witted upon learning of his father’s death, a great shock to him.

It wasn’t a physical illness, and even Irene was unable to cure him.

In the basement of the Fischer family estate, Byrne, Irene, and Chris were discussing the gains and losses of the whole affair and the mistakes made.

Byrne took a deep breath and said,

“We should have brought Chris with us. If Chris had been there from the start, perhaps things wouldn’t have escalated to this point.”

Irene nodded without any objection to the hope of bringing Chris, and continued,

“Moreover, it might have been better if I had shot that low-level Transmutation enemy with the first bullet.”

The silent Chris couldn’t help but glance at his sister.

He fully sensed the subtle changes in his sister; Irene still loved the Fischer family, but she was no longer afraid of the possibility of losing a family member.

Byrne thought back to the chaotic level of the entire battle and felt that if his father Lucius had been commanding on the scene, the outcome might have been different.

Also, the combat readiness of the patrolling guards was simply too poor, and the Fischers’ own guards weren’t much better, nowhere near comparable to the soldiers of the Rhea People.

After some reflection, he suddenly said, “If I have the chance, I want to go to Fein City’s academy to further my military studies, for about a year, to systematically learn about combat command and military training.”

“Perhaps I will also find an opportunity to ascend to the 3rd Rank.”

“Mm, I support your decision,” Irene nodded, feeling it was a good idea.

“I have something extremely important to say,” Byrne said with a very solemn expression, continuing, “Regarding the plan to create new ‘Blood Receivers,’ I think we must start scheduling it from now on.”

“According to the original rules, as long as three people from the Fischer family agree, we can permit someone to join Dawn. Now that Chris’s mind is mature, he naturally can participate in the decision making.”

Irene was silent for a moment, offering no rebuttal.

Although caution and secrecy were the most important tenets of the Fischer family, maintaining the current number of Extraordinary Exponents would unquestionably keep them in constant difficulty.

She nodded in strong agreement and added,

“Then, the most important thing is the selection. The price of Extraordinary materials is getting more and more expensive, and many specific materials aren’t available for purchase whenever one wishes. Choosing which capable and sufficiently loyal children to pick is something we must consider.”

Money, undoubtedly, was the most objective problem.

Class 2 Extraordinary Material costed tens of Gold Coins, and after this year’s sundry expenses, the Fischer family’s total remaining assets could at most afford one more batch of Class 2 Extraordinary Material.

In conclusion, Byrne said, “The Blood Receivers the Fischer family needs are a few loyal elites; we can’t create too many, or it will definitely attract the attention of outsiders.”

A small family from a remote area suddenly possessing dozens of Extraordinary Exponents would certainly attract the scrutiny of various countries and several major churches, and when that happens, it will bring unimaginable risks.

After the review and planning were complete, the Fischer family began today’s sacrifice.

Irene calmly sacrificed the blood-red rose Mysterious rare artifact “Tainted Blood” to the Lord of the Lost.

It was a Treasure class Mysterious rare artifact that contained several times more Spirituality than Collectible class ones.

When Karl absorbed the Spirituality, he immediately felt a sensation akin to chewing on beef.

Though he was without a tongue, he was still able to taste the deliciousness, which was quite good news.

After continuously devouring the Spawn of the Abyss and the Mysterious rare artifact “Tainted Blood,” the third Seal began to show signs of loosening, and Karl was overjoyed deep within his heart.

Immediately, he broke down the blood-red runes deep within his soul into many rune essences.

Karl realized that those rune essences were not enough to let the “heal” rune evolve, nor were they enough for the already spirit rune “Iron Wall” to evolve again.

So he decided to imbue most of the collected rune essences into “accelerate,” keeping a small remainder for the time being.

The next moment, the originally blue rune “accelerate” suddenly flared with light!

It evolved!

Spirit rune “transcend”!

When activating the spirit rune “transcend,” not only does it provide a speed increase for up to three minutes, but it can also instantly amplify the speed of one’s thoughts.

However, its cost was a greater consumption of Spirituality than the “accelerate” rune.

Byrne’s eyes flickered with blue sparks as he felt that some kind of restraint in his mind was suddenly shattered!

“I feel the blessing of the Lord of the Lost, it is a new power, and it is so much stronger than the rune power I had before!”